Updated: Thursday, July 10th, 2014 at 8:04am

Trucks enter the city’s Solid Waste Management Department facility at Edith and Comanche NE. North Valley residents are concerned about increased traffic if the city adds a trash transfer station to the site. (Roberto E. Rosales/Albuquerque Journal)

The transfer of the trash will also happen indoors, limiting dust, she said, and no trash will be stored overnight.

But Gatwood and David Wood, president of the Greater Gardner Neighborhood Association, say the city hasn’t done a good job communicating with them. They learned about the project in the newspaper.

“We believe we rightly deserve a place at the table,” Wood said.

Part of their concern centers on making the site a “convenience center” where ordinary residents can drop off trash, similar to the department’s Eagle Rock and Montessa Park sites.

Albuquerque’s garbage trucks begin and end their day at the city’s Solid Waste Management Department property on Edith NE. (Roberto E. Rosales/Albuquerque Journal)

Add it all up and the project contributes to “an already overburdened area” that’s home to other industrial sites, Wood said.

Holbert said the public will have ample opportunity to weigh in. The city may need a zoning change, which would require approval of the Environmental Planning Commission. An environmental permit from the state will be needed in any case.

“We welcome the public involvement,” Holbert said.

The whole point of the project, Holbert said, is to make the department more efficient and save money. The transfer station would give garbage trucks a central location to drop off their collections, avoiding the long trip to the West Side landfill, she said.

That reduces mileage, saving on fuel and reducing pollution, she said.

Redesigning and rebuilding the department’s operation at the site could also give it more “curb appeal,” Holbert said. The design work isn’t far enough along yet to submit for the state permit.